The most serious scandal in the wine sector dates back to thirty years ago, in Italy: it is the episode of the wine al methanol which in March 1986 caused 23 victims with dozens of people with very serious injuries, such as loss of sight, due to the intoxication caused by the practice of increasing the alcohol content of wine with methanol or methyl alcohol, a natural alcohol that is remarkably toxic.
Some unscrupulous producers and traders, taking advantage of the shortcomings in the food control system, decided, therefore, to obtain the maximum profit with the minimum cost of the raw material and with the lowest risk of being caught red-handed, because the sophistication implemented with methanol as an alternative to sugar, takes place in a very short space of time and, therefore, such as to minimize the danger of surprise checks. In fact, from mid-December 1985 to March 1986 a quantity of methanol of about 2 and a half tons was used.
Following the scandal, the Government hired a number of emergency measures, intended to make the prevention and repression of food adulteration more effective.
They came enhancedfurthermore i control services increasing the staff of the NAS, the peripheral offices of customs and yes instituted at the then Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, theCentral Inspectorate for Repression of Fraud (today ICQRF) divided into interregional, regional and interprovincial offices.
At the end of the year it was then established the Age-Control spa. with the task of controlling Community aid in order to prevent fraud in the sectors that benefit from Community funds, including wine.
What happened next in Italian wine represents an extraordinary metaphor of the transition, still underway not only in wine, but throughout the Italian production system, from an economy based on quantity to an economy that instead focuses on quality and value. . Although much remains to be done, after methanol, the world of wine and agri-food made in Italy has in fact been able to recover, betting on its identity, on its links with the territory, on its certifications of origin.
In your opinion, why can man fall so low?